


quoth the ravenclaw

by Esbion



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animal Transformation, Established Relationship, F/F, Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Round 2, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 09:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28468863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esbion/pseuds/Esbion
Summary: In the middle of the night, Helga receives a visit from a raven.For HP rarepair bingo
Relationships: Helga Hufflepuff/Rowena Ravenclaw
Kudos: 7
Collections: Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Round Two!





	quoth the ravenclaw

**Author's Note:**

> HPRB prompt P019 
> 
> this has nothing to do with Poe, I just wanted a pun

_Tap, tap, tap._

It’s midnight and there’s a sound at Helga’s window, rousing her from her sleep.  
It’s an expensive window, with actual glass in the pane-- a luxury Helga had never dreamed she could have. But this was the year 1091 and anything was possible here in this stone castle that she and her three friends had built from the ground up.

_Tap, tap, tap._

There it was again.

With a sigh, Helga pulled herself out of bed. A black blur was visible through the glass--a bird sitting on the windowsill, slamming its beak repeatedly against the window. Tap, tap, tap. It must be an owl, Helga thought. Why else would a bird come a-knocking at her window this late at night, if not to deliver a message?

She opened the latch. “Oh, you’re not an owl.”

It was a raven, as black as the night outside. Its ebony feathers were glistening with rain. The bird flew right towards Helga, giving a caw as it did so. Helga ducked.

“You go back outside right now--” Helga began.

The bird had landed on the ground and was approaching the fire.

“Wait,” she said, rushing to grab the bird before it could burn itself. It flew out of her grasp easily. The bird stretched out its wings as if they were hands, reaching towards the fire. A tiny happy noise escaped the raven’s beak, somewhere between a purr and a chirp. It was warming itself.

“Oh,” said Helga. She wasn’t going to make the creature go back outside in the rain, not when the bird seemed to be enjoying itself inside.

“Would you like something to eat, miss bird?” Helga asked as she reached for the fruit bowl, knowing quite well that the raven could not respond.

The bird turned its head, looking right at her with its beady little eyes and _nodded_.

Helga nearly dropped the bowl.

“Would--would you like an apple?” Helga sliced it into tiny pieces with a single wand-flick.

Probably the raven would refuse to eat the fruit; in Helga's experience, they usually did not prefer sweet things. Helga supposed she could rummage through her gardening tools box to find seeds, or perhaps summon one of the house-elves and tell them to fetch some meat.

Again the raven nodded, like it could understand her.

What an unusual bird. There seemed to be something about it that differentiated it from most birds. She had known ravens were intelligent, but Helga had never heard of a raven understanding human speech. Helga wondered, as she watched the bird peck devour the apple piece, whether this animal was magical.

Now that she was awake, Helga supposed she should do some of the work that needed to be done. She headed to her mahogany desk and lit the single candle so that she could see. She had plenty of letters to respond to; her students had been writing her over the summer break and would likely expect responses by tomorrow. As she got out a piece of parchment and began to write, she saw a blur in the corner of her eye. She turned to see the raven flying across the room and landing in a potted plant, specifically the blue roses that had been given as a present from her lover.

“No, please do not eat Rowena’s flowers,” Helga said sternly, trying to shoo the bird away.

The raven stayed put, bouncing up and down and squawking.

“I’m sorry,” Helga said. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.”

The raven flapped its wings in a huff.

Helga went back to her letter writing. She dipped her quill in the inkwell and sat with her hand poised above the paper, thinking about what to say.

The raven flew over and alighted on top of her desk.

“Excuse me, you're on my parchment.”

The raven walked forward and stuck its foot right in the inkwell.

“No, no, miss bird. Now you’re going to be making tracks all ov--”

The raven was currently walking back and forth across the parchment As it walked, little ink bird prints appeared on the page. The raven was walking in a pattern, deliberately, turning back and forth on the parchment with its eyes fixed intently on the pattern beneath its feat.

Helga let the raven play its silly game; this piece of parchment was ruined now anyway.

The raven flew up to rest on Helga’s shoulder.

She looked down and gasped.

A signature in squiggly cursive, the word _Rowena_. It was signed with a little heart, the way all her letters to Helga were.

“Oh,” she said.

Rowena nipped at Helga gently with her beak.

Helga laughed out loud. “Rowena,” Helga took the bird in her hands, let it perch on her fingertips as she stoked those black, glossy feathers. “What happened to you?”

Rowena made a mournful noise in response.

“Oh, did you eat one of Godric’s pastries? That prankster. I suppose we need to fix this.” Helga took out her wand and performed a spell, tapping the raven lightly on the head.

In an instant, the bird was gone. Here in Helga’s arms was her lover, looking completely exhausted with her long raven-black hair hanging down in messy strands and her gray gown disheveled.

Rowena gave a tired sigh. “I am going to kill Godric,” she said, sinking into Helga’s grasp.


End file.
